Alabama boasts its strongest lineup of the season for NCAAs

Thursday, April 16, 2009

IAN R. RAPOPORT

News staff writer

Sarah Patterson is fond of saying that the only meet that
rivals the NCAA Championships is the one to decide the
Southeastern Conference title.

The pressure is similar, so is the competition, and so is
all-at-once format. That would seem to put the Crimson Tide
in prime position, given the fact that it recently took home
its first SEC crown since 2003.

Yet with four-time defending champion and top-ranked
Georgia still frothing over a rare stumble, does that send
the pendulum swinging toward the already stacked Gym Dogs?

"On any given night, any team can win," UA coach
Sarah Patterson said at a news conference in Lincoln, Neb.,
the site of nationals. "People that don't believe
that could be proven wrong. It's not necessarily who
has the most talent. Of all the championships we've
won, I don't think we've ever been the most
talented on the floor. It's who performs best."

The third-seeded Crimson Tide begins its quest for its
first national title since 2002 tonight on the floor
exercise in a 7 p.m. session from the Devaney Sports Center
that also includes No.2 Utah, No.6 Oregon State, No.7 UCLA,
No.10 Arkansas and No.11 Illinois.

The afternoon session is led by Georgia and retiring coach
Suzanne Yoculan, whose team will be attempting to fend off
No.4 LSU, No.5 Florida, No.8 Oklahoma, No.9 Stanford, and
No.12 Penn State.

The top three teams in each session advance to Friday
night's Super Six finals. The individual finals are
Saturday night.

UA may not, as Patterson mentioned, have the most scoring
potential. Few can compete gymnast-for-gymnast with Georgia,
which also boasts two-time NCAA all-around champion Courtney
Kupets.

But there may be other factors at play: "Karma is
there," points out Yoculan, whose team shockingly fell
twice on the beam at SECs.

So is the fact that, as much as any time all season, Alabama has its full lineup. Only senior all-arounder Brittany Magee is still out, with torn knee ligaments....